Lines to the Ladies
Pam Hessler, WVFB Women’s Leadership Committee Chair
I hope everyone had a
wonderful Christmas holiday and
has been surviving the off and on
cold temperatures that January
can bring! As I was writing this
month’s edition, the contaminated
drinking water was still front page
news and my thoughts were with those affected. The
news has reported organizations that have been helping
out by sending bottled water to the people affected but I
wonder how many thought about the farmers and how
they were going to get enough water for their livestock.
My thoughts and prayers are with all of you.
I just returned from spending three full days (and two
travel days) in San Antonio, Texas attending the AFBF
Annual Convention. We were just starting to get out of
the subzero temperatures in Berkeley Springs when I left
for Texas and I will say the 70+ degree sunny, clear skies
was a welcomed change. San Antonio is the seventh
largest city in the U.S. but for such a large city, the
people are genuinely friendly. People spoke to you on
the streets and asked if you needed help finding things,
which is not always the reception you get in the larger
cities in the Northeast.
I attended several informative workshops and spent
part of one afternoon networking with state women
chairs from across the country. Ladies, we don’t give
ourselves enough credit for all the programs we work on
in West Virginia. At my network table there were seven
other states represented and we each gave an overview of
what programs we work on throughout the year. When
it came time for me to mention the WV programs, they
were literally amazed at all the different programs and
contests we coordinate. I would say a majority at my
table only work on a couple of projects a year. Now,
I’m not telling you all this so you can sit back and take it
easy. I believe what we accomplish in WV might have
motivated several of them to pick up the pace. They
realized we are a relatively small state in numbers in
comparison to Florida, Georgia, and Oklahoma; just
three of the states that I networked with. It made me
so proud of each one of you for all you do to promote
agriculture in our state.
So with that said, I hope each of you are working
in your counties on upcoming projects. Food CheckOut Week is fast approaching. Let’s see if we can top
last year’s $25,000 total in food and money donations
to the three Ronald McDonald Houses. We will begin
shopping at 10:00 a.m. in Huntington on February
20th and in Morgantown on the 22nd . The Charleston
shopping date is April 11th.
Now that kids are back in school, plan a trip to a
school for an Ag in the Classroom program. Also, the
Agriculture in West Virginia poster contest should be
ongoing and/or finishing up in March.
This year’s theme from the AFB Women’s Leadership
Committee is “Growing Strong”. The committee has
adopted “Our Food Link” as a planning toolkit with
sample activities, media outreach, program graphics and
plenty of room to tailor projects to our needs. They have
discontinued the Food Check-Out Week so programs can
be year around instead of concentrating on one specific
week each year. Program examples from Our Food Link
include agricultural literacy outreach in school-related
activities with “accurate ag” books or communicating
farmers’ and ranchers’ commitment to communities
by increasing contributions to food banks or Ronald
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